Young people on an estate in one of Southwark’s most deprived areas are barely able to use their local youth centre, according to its Tenants and Residents Association (TRA), writes Herbie Russell…
The estate has witnessed three murders in the last four years, yet many of the estate’s residents say the council is still failing to provide for their young people.
While the council claims the Brandon Youth Centre, Maddock Way, Newington, is open fourteen hours a week, the Brandon Estate TRA says it’s only open seven-and-a-half hours a week.
Councillor Jasmine Ali, Cabinet Lead for Children, Young People & Schools at Southwark Council said: “The Brandon Youth Centre is open every evening, a total of fourteen hours a week during term time, and longer hours during holidays when it also opens during the daytime.”
This is contradicted by the council’s website which says that, during term time, the youth centre is open from 6.30pm to 9pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, equalling just over seven hours a week.
The News has now obtained video footage showing that, from Tuesday 22 to Monday 28 March, the youth centre only appeared to open on Friday evening. Every other day, its lights were off with no sign of activity inside.
Tom Lloyd, chair of the tenants’ association, said: “It looks more like a youth detention centre than a youth club!
“Despite the murders of three young people over the last four years on the Brandon, the wealth of community space is being denied to our residents.
“Unlike most estates, we have an abundance of potential resources such as the Brandon Library, the Brandon Youth Centre, and the huge Jack Hobbs community hall, but they are all chronically underused, all managed by different LBS departments, and there is no coordinated approach from Southwark, or any willingness to properly engage with our community.
“We have raised this with ward councillors, and sadly they have let us down. If holding meetings could prevent knife crime, Southwark would be the safest borough in the country,” he added.
The Brandon Estate, home to approximately 5000 people, witnessed the killings of Siddique Kamara, 23, and Rhyhiem Barton, 17, in 2018, and Clinton Evbota, 16, in 2019.
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Ola Balogun, mother-of-four and Brandon TRA committee member said: “Why do I have to go all the way to Oval to provide my children with activities?
“This is the only estate I’ve heard of with so many barriers in place.
“If they give me the keys, I would gladly run the place. It’s a shame we have so many underused resources.”
The underuse of the estate’s facilities is also evident along the shopping parade, where some shopping units have been vacant for years.
Councillor Ali said: “There are wide-ranging activities and support for all ages in the Brandon Estate community, running during term time and over the holidays, on an estate where we have worked together for a long time to establish a varied offer of things for people to do.”
Stella Roberts, a mother-of-three and Brandon Estate resident since 2011, gave birth to all three of her daughters on the estate. She said: “I’ve lived in this area for twenty years and didn’t know there was a youth centre.”
Ola, a pharmacy technician in the chemists opposite the youth centre, declined to give his surname but said: “I’ve been here the past three years. All you ever see is people going in and closing the door.”
When open, the youth centre has hosted taekwondo lessons, football sessions and stop-and-search workshops, where young people can discuss their experiences of the controversial police powers, according to the Brandon TRA website.
Garden allotments provide green refuge for Brandon Estate residents